The Beauty and the Brute
by seafox
Summary: "I have probably saved your life about ten times now and you insist into not taking care of yourself! Do you expect me to be always there!" It was a while before an answer was whispered back. "Yes." And Degel knew he would, anyway.
1. Kardia Wants

**Right, this goes for all the people that are reading 'Newton and his Apple', my CamusXMilo fic. Kardia and Degel are amazing together, so I decided to write a spin off =D**

**For those who have never read one of mine, I'd like to inform that English is not my first language, so please forgive my grammar mistakes.**

**Please enjoy!**

**xxxx**

Chapter One – Kardia wants

Kardia was a man of action. He was the kind of person who simply… acted. If he thought it was worth it, that is. If it wasn't fun there was a big chance he would ignore it completely. That aside, Kardia had a simple way of seeing things.

If he wants something, he goes after it – and he usually gets it. Tall, strong and good-looking gave him easy love success with whoever he wanted as well as facility with his hard work at the street market.

Not that his life was easy. Poor, he had to work with his parents since he was very young and barely went to school. Mamma had taught him all she could, but you can't say that Kardia was a literate man. Thankfully things were different for his little brother Milo.

Kardia was not the smartest person in the world, but he knew there were things that were important even if he hadn't had the opportunity of understanding them. So he buggered Mamma and Papa day and night to make sure that at least Milo would a have a good education. The kid was smart, and even though he was sure his brother would have to work with the rest of the family, he wanted him to have more opportunities. Thankfully his parents seemed to have taken the advice to heart and did the same with their youngest daughter.

So, you see, Kardia had some good in him despite his brute exterior. But you must not tell anyone that, otherwise you might regret – his family aside, there aren't many people who could bring this good to his rough surface. Actually, there just aren't people who could do that. Even close family friends saw more of his bad side than of the small good one.

As Mamma used to say, Kardia got the worse dose because he was the eldest – while Milo could be loudmouthed and exploded from time to time when he was angry, Kardia would always distillate the venom a while longer. In her own words 'her little scorpions were very alike, but used different strategies'. And again, there weren't people who could put up with Kardia.

Until came the day in which he found a pair of glasses on the street.

It was his lunch break and he was walking around while his parents were taking care of the apple stand. He still had about half an hour until he had to take out more vegetables from the truck to fill in the apple stand and the vegetables stand that Deathmask – their "adopted" one – was taking care of. So he had no hurry and was exploring some of streets behind the market, not looking for anything in particular but curious about his surroundings nonetheless.

He knew that Deathmask's brother-in-law had a flower shop nearby and that there was a small French restaurant around. Not that Kardia would ever set foot on such place where food was probably all fru-fru and most likely sold at an absurd high price.

It was when he was about to turn the corner that he noticed the object shining upon a small stone bench. Inspecting in his hands he saw a pair of glasses with thing but big lenses. It was an elegant object and for some reason he couldn't stop trying to imagine what the owner looked like. He didn't need to try for long, though.

"Oh, good, someone found it." He heard in the distance and turned to look.

Kardia was more than astonished when he saw the most beautiful and regal creature walking towards him. Pale skin and long teal colored hair, the beauty approached him with such grace that he doubted that it was really just a man and not a creature from other world coming near. Right behind came another man, who Kardia disliked immediately, simply because he was walking so close to the angel.

"This yours?" he asked when both men stopped in front of him, secretly proud that he could retain his ability to speak in front of the angel. Then he felt suddenly embarrassed of his jeans and white t-shirt, seeing how formally the men were dressed.

"Yes, thank you." The angel answered with a heavy French accent.

Reluctant, Kardia returned the glasses. He knew the man would leave as soon as he had it, but he was still somewhat mesmerized and most of his movements were on automatic pilot. His biggest regret, though, was that as soon as the man was in possession of his lost object he put it on, giving Kardia little time to look properly at his eyes.

"Be sure to be more careful." He said it with a hinge of growling in his voice. The words left his mouth before he had processed them in his mind, his rudeness mode kicking in by default as he found himself stunned by the pretty creature. No way to take it back now.

Kardia watched as an amused eyebrow rose on the angel's forehead above his newly returned glasses. Was he offended? Probably. Could he do something to make amends? The other man, the one who had eyed him with distaste from the moment he had looked at Kardia, seemed to be in disposition to avoid that.

Suddenly his head was light and he found himself slightly dizzy. Kardia was not a man to be worried about what other people thought of him, but for some reason he wanted to cause a good impression on that alluring teal haired person. He was just not sure whether his body should be reacting that heavily to the man.

"Excuse me, is everything all right?" asked the angel.

No 'Fuck you' nor arrogant indifference, just genuine concern on his voice when he uttered the question, and that surprised Kardia. However, when his heart's pace slowed and his vision began to blur he understood what was happening and a helpless feeling took over his senses.

"Fuck…" he murmured as he had to take a few steps back to balance himself.

"What is it?" the man asked again, taking s few steps further to maintain the same distance between them, his voice was clearly worried.

"Diabetes…" great, now his speech was impaired too "Having a crisis."

Kardia had only time to see the angel going forward to hold his arm before he stopped registering what was happening around him.

Xxxxx

When Kardia opened his eyes again, he was still filling weak, but better. The earlier moments were a blur to him and he had no idea what had happened, but a sweet taste on his tongue told him that someone had known the right thing to do.

Looking around he found himself sat on a comfortable leather chair. _Not a hospital, good_. It was some kind of a small office. The air smelled of some kind of food, although he could not quite identify what. Then it dawned upon him. _The owner of the French restaurant._

"Are you feeling better?"

Kardia looked up to see the angel coming in with a tray on his hands.

"Yes. Did you treat me?"

"Unity and I carried you here, since it was not far, and I made you swallow the sweetest thing I could find on the restaurant. You were a bit out of it for a few moments, though." He answered while placing the tray in front of Kardia.

There was a huge plate of pasta there and a glass with something that resembled juice on the tray. He simply looked at it, then looked up at the man.

"Eat it." The other probed him and sat in a chair on the other side of the desk.

"I've already had lunch." He said and remembered to add quickly "Thank you, though. There was no need to go through all this trouble."

"Nonsense. I assure you it will fall lightly on your stomach, and you need the nutrients. You must still be weak. Eat it." The French insisted.

For a moment they just looked at each other. A theory had slowly been forming inside his mind, but Kardia was forced to abandon it. The man really was gorgeous and it was not a side effect of his previous crisis, if he had ever been lucid it was the moment he laid eyes on that angel.

Said angel had a somewhat annoyed expression on his face now. Curious about what he would do, Kardia watched the other man sigh and bring the chair closer to the desk. They were face to face now, with only the wooden desk between them, and he felt himself freezing on his place. It was both odd and soothing at the same time.

"I am sorry, you don't even know my name. I suppose it is wise to not accept food from a total stranger, even if said stranger had just saved your life." There was a small smile on his face and Kardia felt himself smirk at how sexy his French accent rolled through his lips, still he forced his mind to pay attention to the following words "I am Degel. I own this restaurant and I made this pasta myself. I would feel better if you ate, but I'll understand if you don't want to."

He took his moment to watch and memorize Degel's face. Through the glasses he could see his eyes and it was possible to tell the French was being sincere. Finally, he nodded and took the fork sitting beside the plate.

"Kardia."

Xxxxx

"Are you sure you can get there by yourself?"

"Relax Monsieur French, I can take care of myself." He answered as he was following Degel to the back door.

"Oh, so that's why you were walking alone even though you knew you could have a crisis."

Kardia smirked at the sarcasm in his voice. During the last hour he discovered that Degel was a man of few words but of strong personality and that served to fuel his interest on the French.

On his way out he noticed a basket of fruits near the door and the apples stood out to him. Having growing apples his entire life, he could tell from one look they were not the best quality. Immediately an idea to see Degel again was formed on his mind.

"If you ever happen to want the best apple in the city, stop by the street market nearby." He said, taking an apple from the basket.

"Oh?" Degel turned to look curious at him.

Kardia chuckled and threw him the apple. "The third stand by the corner." He said before he left without saying anything else, enjoying the intense eyes on his back as he crossed the door.

Xxxxx

He walked back slowly to the market. Not because he was weak or anything – not only was the pasta delicious, but also gave him sudden energy. Oh no, his leisure was due to something else, something that had to do with that French chef.

When he arrived at the market he first saw Deathmask. The Italian was just finishing a sell and acknowledged him with a nod. Kardia nodded back and waited for the client to go.

"Hey. Your parents are furious that you disappeared."

"Lost track of the time." Or, to be more accurate, lost track of reality – in more ways than the one of his disease.

"They had to send Milo to fetch the stuff at the truck and we all had to endure him complaining about you." Deathmask pointed at Milo with his head

Kardia watched his brother. Milo was by the apple stand but his mind seemed far far away, his eyes were apparently searching something in the middle of the crowded street.

"He doesn't seem to have minded much."

"He was bragging all the way until he bumped into a man and everything fell to the ground. The lucky bastard even managed to sell a good load of apples to the man. That didn't stop your mother to whack his head, of course."

He was only mildly curious about the situation; everyone knew that Milo's mood could change quickly. All Kardia could think about was the way his hair fell upon his shoulder, the royal way that Degel carried himself with, the way his French accent seemed so sexy to his ears. All he could think was that he wanted the French.

Yes, most definitely Degel fell into the category of something Kardia wanted, and as noted earlier, if Kardia wants something he goes and get it.

**xxxxx**

**And there you go, first chapter!**

**I will carry this along with 'Newton and his Apple', but this one will probably be a bit shorter.**

**Thank you for reading.**

**seafox**


	2. Kardia Hates

**And here we are! The people who read 'Newton…' know that Kardia and Degel aren't in exactly lovely terms and in this chapter we can begin to see why, but there will be more to it.**

**I would like to apologize for my mistake in the previous chapter, I knew I was writing something wrong. No worries, I will soon enough fix that.**

**I hope you enjoy.**

**xxxx**

Chapter Two – Kardia hates

The next day found Kardia ready to work as usual. No rest for the wicked and, well, you had to give it to him, Kardia _was_ wicked.

He smirked all the way from his house to the street fair. He couldn't be completely sure that Degel would show up that day, but his instincts told him that the French strived for perfection and would not be able to resist verifying what he had said about the apples. Kardia only had to wait, and even though he conceded that waiting was not one of his strong suits, he was feeling lucky that day.

"Good dreams this night?" he heard Milo ask from the truck's passenger seat "You seem excited today."

Kardia had more like fantasized than dreamed exactly, but his little brother didn't need to know that. "You bet."

As usual, he worked hard. Most of his activities involved heavy lifting and weight carrying. And Kardia liked it, it made him feel alive. A long time ago he had been advised it was not a good work for him given his diabetes, but he didn't care. For one his family could not have the luxury of having one useless son who could not even carry a few loaded boxes. And two, he was _good_ at it.

One could think that carrying boxes on the market doesn't require special abilities and that was as wrong as one could get. You not only had to be strong, but you also had to be able to give your body to the job. You had to work hard and forget pain and tiredness, even if you worked until your muscles ached more than anything else. That was something Kardia knew how to do and it wasn't something doctors' words could stop. He'd rather die feeling the satisfaction of an exhausted body than keep preserving a useless health.

It was early in the morning, not even all the stands had been mounted yet. The merchants were still arriving, his family had been the first to arrive to secure their favorite spot on the street.

Sighing contently, he leaned against a tree and closes his eyes. Running a hand through his messed hair he could the sweat already forming on his skin.

"Don't you dare have another crisis on me today, I haven't brought anything sweet."

And there you go. He thought satisfied, his mouth turning up into a smirk as he recognized the French accent and the deep voice.

"No worries, I was just taking a breath." He told Degel and watched him from the corner of his eyes "You never told me what kind of sweet stuff you used on me yesterday."

It was Degel's turn to smirk "Sorry, secret ingredient."

Kardia snorted and walked to where the French was standing. "Well, well. Aren't you a morning person? Up and ready even before the rest of the market has set the stands."

"I am not a fan of crowded streets. Glad to see that I will not have to wait to test these apples of yours."

With another snort and a permanent smirk, Kardia motioned with his head for Degel to follow him. His parents and Milo were busy with their other stand and Deathmask was organizing stuff at the truck, so he would have all the space he wanted to play and provoke Degel. If he did things correctly he might even turn him into a regular customer.

It was very interesting to watch Degel watching food. There was complete focus on the task as his eyes inspected each thing he touched for imperfections. At first Kardia thought that he might as well be a robot, but as he observed more closely the delicacy which the French held the fruits with he was able to recognize some kind of frozen grace in his actions. Usually this type would not get his attention – he could almost see the mechanical and logical process happening inside Degel's mind and Kardia was definitely more a 'feel' kind of guy.

This Degel seemed to be an exception, though.

Maybe it was the mystery of those glasses hiding the eyes a bit, maybe it had to do with the way that pale skin seemed to roll smoothly over that lean body's movements. Maybe it even had something to do with the fact that Kardia much likely owed his life to the Frenchman. He knew that if the other hadn't done something quick it could have been his end.

He was not particularly happy with that prospect, of owing his life to somebody. Kardia _hated_ being in debt, and most of all he _hated_ to look week, even if in front of a stranger – the fact that said stranger seemed so alluring to him probably made it worse.

Suddenly there was a knot in his gut. Somehow, the notion that he had been at the mercy of another person had escaped him yesterday and that was a disturbing fact on its own. Today, however, staring at the angel-like man, he was feeling the wound on his pride. It was bad enough that he was a sick person who should be constantly on the company of someone who could take measures in case something happened. Considering how stubborn he was to the idea, it was a miracle he had not dropped dead yet.

"I must say I am surprised." Came Degel's voice to retrieve him from his irritated musings "I was not aware that fruits like these were sold so near my restaurant."

"Hn." He grunted "Told you."

"And you have other fruits and vegetables as well?" he asked, apparently unaware of the change in the Greek's mood.

"Right over here." He motioned with his head for the other to follow him.

When they reached the other stand the rest of his family was there, so Kardia let to his father and brother to take care of that. Still, he could not bring himself to simply leave, so he leaned on a nearby tree and simply watched the exchange.

Degel seemed satisfied with what he was seeing and hearing, judging by the way he glanced around taking in more the general aspect of things instead of picking up tiny details like he had done with the apples. Kardia felt a smirk tugging its way up on his mouth.

Seeing him now he could remember all the things that had stood out to him on the day before, even if he had been light headed from his crisis.

"I wonder if there has been a streak of French immigration to Greece." He heard his brother say when he walked by his tree.

"What?" Milo and his… Well, _Milo-ness_.

"Just yesterday I sold apples to another French guy, a bit younger though." Milo turned to him a bit "He said he might be back to buy some more."

The glow on his brother's eyes and the hopefulness on his voice made Kardia get suspicious, but who was he to judge? It was not surprising that good taste for men ran in the family, even though he was sure their father would rather them to settle with nice young ladies.

"I'm sure he will, bro."

He suspected Milo had not heard his answer, if his somewhat dreamy sigh was any clue. Kardia would make sure to be around next time that other French came by so he could make a complete evaluation of the guy's intentions with his brother. He knew Milo. There was no way he would get hopeful like that if a hint had not been given.

After his brother left to keep to stay at the apple stand Kardia resumed his observations of Degel. He was smiling now and shaking hands with Papa. Stupid as it was, he couldn't help but to feel a small sting of jealousy – even though he knew that Degel must have touched him to carry him on the day before, Kardia had no memory of what that skin felt like.

Crossing his arms on his chest, he watched as the French finished business with Papa and came to speak with him. That was oddly revigorating.

"Apparently, we'll do business from now on." Degel smirked at him.

Kardia smirked and bit back a few responses he had in mind, but thought better to not scare the poor man away with implications of sex.

"I am sure you will be satisfied." He finally said with a lazy nod and a playful grin.

"Well, see you later today." Degel nodded back and left.

Not the warm farewell he had been expecting, although the words 'later today' did bring his mood up a bit. He had yet to know what Papa had agreed with, but he didn't care, really. The more he got to see his prey, the better.

"Interesting man, this French." Mamma said, stopping by his side.

More than interesting, Mamma. Damn sexy, too.

"Where did you get him? He said it was you who recommended us." She pressed a bit and the tone in her voice made him look at her sideways. There was a knowing look on her eyes that made Kardia feel slightly uncomfortable.

"Saw him on the street, yesterday." He said, not wanting to bring up neither the part of his crisis nor the part where he woke up in Degel's restaurant.

"Lucky us. We made a deal a providing for his restaurant. It shall be a fixed money coming in everyday and that is always good." Mamma said and he simple 'hmmd', wanting the topic to be finished "Lucky you, too, I guess."

With that said, his mother winked – _winked_ – at him and left to help Milo with the apples.

Trying not to look too guilty, Kardia stood straight and went to help Papa. He should have known, of course, that it was not much use trying to hide anything from his mother. He rather she wasn't so obvious, though, about guessing so much of her sons' secret desires. It was damn awkward!

xxxxx

Later on that same day Kardia was charged with taking the order to the restaurant. Supposedly was a two man job, but Deathmask had to leave early that day and Milo had been too aloof to be there on time to leave. He was secretly pleased with that – Milo's new found attraction to French was not something he would like tempt his brother with. Degel was his.

It was not to say that he was completely over the fact that he had been a damsel in distress. His brains were fusing, divided into pursuing desire and protecting his pride. Surely he could not have made a good impression. Who would ever be attracted to a sick man who goes fainting around in the street?

When he parked the truck, he horned once just to give a heads up that he had arrived with the stuff. He soon proceeded to unload the truck, and before he was over he heard a door being opened.

"Five minutes late." He heard Degel saying.

He was ready to turn and give him a not so nice comeback. Degel's smirk stopped him from doing so, though. Provocation. Kardia approved of that. He also approved of how good the chef uniform looked on him, and how his lean neck was exposed by the tied teal strands.

"Missed me that much?" Kardia smirked at him, not arrogantly, provocative.

Degel only snorted. "You can bring things through here to the pantry."

Kardia was glad that there was no offer to help him – he was not sure if it was because the other somehow understood him or if he just thought that heavy-lifting was not worthy of a chef. Either way, he felt more comfortable that way.

"You can pile it up over there. I'll have a waitress bring you something to drink." Degel told him already on his way out to the kitchen, not sparring him even a second glance as he began to bring things in.

Kardia wondered if it was on purpose or not. He, of course, would not be discouraged by such display of lack of interest – sooner or later the other would not be able to _not_ look at him.

After the third box he spotted a red haired girl coming to him with a tray on her hands. There was a single glass with a red liquid on.

"Monsieur Degel sent this for you, sir."

"Thanks." He acknowledged the girl when he took the glass of whatever. Watermelon juice. It was sweet. Maybe too sweet. Degel was worried that he might have another crisis, then?

Partly touched that the man had bothered enough with him to be concerned with his problem, Kardia drank the whole thing. His pride screamed at him to spit it all out, though, and he remained with a cranky mood the whole time he worked. He couldn't imagine what could be worse than being pitied.

When he was finally finished he saw the red headed coming again. This time he noticed she was blushing and barely had the nerve to look him in the eyes. Interesting. He could use that.

"M. Degel said that you could go collect the payment in his office when you're over."

"Sure. Thank you…" he looked at her pointedly.

"Marin." Kardia gave her a few points for not stuttering, he hated stuttering.

"Thank you, Marin. I will do that."

Going to the French's office, however, served only to intensify his crankiness. Guess who was there as well, chatting with Degel? The other rich man from yesterday, obviously. The one who gave him a single distasteful look. He was wearing a navy blue suit and his hair fell around his shoulders while he laughed. Teal hair also fell around shoulders while Degel laughed and that infuriated Kardia – the notion that other people could make the chef laugh angered him greatly.

"Ah, there you are, Kardia. You remember Unity, from yesterday? He helped me carry you here." Degel smiled at them.

Unity simply nodded at him, but was clearly displeased with his interruption. That cheered Kardia a bit.

"You were very lucky we were around." Unity said and his voice was even more infuriating than his mere presence "You were even more lucky that Degel knew what should be done. And now he is even buying from you. I expect that you are very grateful to him."

The speech alone turned Kardia's vision into pure red. Who the hell that fancy suit thought he was to speak him in that manner? And who did he think that Kardia was? Had he no notion of danger? But that would have been OK, really, because it was relatively easy to get him angry – his brother managed to achieve that all the time. The last drop – the one that was more than the dam could hold – was when the bloody man touched Degel's arm.

It was not a brush of skin, it was a deliberate movement with perfect consciousness of it's consequences. The glint on Unity's eyes let clear that he knew the effect the action had on Kardia and that made it all worse. That was _the_ moment. The moment when hatred gained a new meaning for him. The moment in which Kardia saw as clear as day that he hated to see another human being touching Degel, that he hated the feeling that he could not touch Degel, and that he hated Unity more than he hated any other person in the world.

And Degel's reaction? Bloody lack of reaction, that is! He glanced briefly at the hand that touched his arm but did nothing about it. Nothing!

Once again, any regular guy might be discouraged. Kardia, however, was a scorpion and he would have Degel, one way or the other. It was understandable, though, that he would not be in the best wooing mood at the time.

"So grateful I came to collect my payment." He growled carelessly and was somewhat pleased to see the change in Degel's expression, who was clearly surprised by his rudeness. Kardia laughed cruelly "Too rude for you, Monsieur French?"

"Unsurprisingly." Degel answered standing.

To give him credit, he recovered quickly from his shock, and now he didn't seem so angelic as on the day before. His stance had changed. He was taller and intimidating. His eyes were cold now and for all Kardia knew he could have looked like an insignificant bug to the French's eyes.

Cold eyes were not enough to scare him, though.

"The money?"

Degel said nothing, simply motioned with his head where the money was, on top of a few books. Kardia snorted and placed a smirk in his face.

"Gratefully accepted, Monsieur." He said, sarcasm dripping from every word "See you tomorrow."

He was halfway across the door when he heard a snort from Unity. Well, that was a challenge, but he doubted that Unity was worth the trouble. So Kardia simply turned and glared at the man, effectively shutting him up. From the corner of his eyes he noticed that Degel's stare was getting colder by the minute, so he thought better to leave for the moment.

Without a question that had not given him positive points with Degel, but he could change that tomorrow when hopefully bloody Unity would not be there to ruin his day and touch his future boyfriend to simply provoke him. Hopefullly, Unity would get smashed by a car and Kardia would never have to deal with him again.

**xxxxx**

**Well, this is it for chapter number two. It's short, but this story hasn't required complicated scenes so far, maybe that will change. I hope you've liked it.**

**Thank you for reading.**

**seafox**


	3. Degel sees

**Sorry, sorry, sorry for the delay! I shall give more attention to this story, from now on. I wanted to finish both "The Beauty and the Brute" and "Newton and his Apple" at the same time, so I have to move with this one, to put them on the same page.**

**For those of you who are following both couples, I'd like to situate you in time a bit. The first chapter of Newton and his Apple is simultaneous to the first chapter of this story, but the second and third chapter of Milo and Camus will be at the same time of only the fifth chapter here. Don't worry, this fic will not be that much longer, is just that when Camus gets his job at the restaurant clearly Kardia and Degel have known each other for a while and I want to show this properly, with both their point of views on their situation. This must happen in the two months that go by before Camus encounters Milo in the hospital.**

**Well, enough with explanations. Let's just get to the story. I hope you enjoy.**

**xxx**

Believing in signs or in fate or in whatever supernatural silliness people conjured was not part of Degel's nature. Degel was, and always would be, a rational man. His recipes were precisely measure as every other aspect of his life. To put it simple, he believed in what he saw. Still, somewhere inside him he was beginning to think that he should have paid more attention to Unity's words five days ago.

Degel had never thought that the losing his glasses could be a sign that he would have problems to see things clearly from then on. At the moment he had realized he didn't have his glasses with him the two of them had been laughing at some ridiculous stories of a woman who claimed could see the future, so he dismissed it as a joke instantly. Now, however, one week later his troubled mind was starting to give signs of considering that nonsense. Indeed, after the losing and finding of his glasses – of the finding and rescue of Kardia – Degel had been having some trouble to focus. Especially around two o'clock, when the fruits and vegetables were supposed to be delivered.

At first sight, the Greek had appeared to be a simple, proud, mysterious man. _And hot too_, a small irrational part of his inner self whispered to him before he could proceed with his musings. The rudeness was greatly annoying, though. And the mood changed as fast as fried dishes. Kardia was a brute in every sense of the word. Big, strong, rough, stubborn and wild. It was impossible to predict his actions and reactions. It drove Degel crazy that he never knew what to expect. It drove him crazy that he secretly enjoyed it.

_Surely this is just a phase. I am merely out of place at having to deal with someone like him._

xxxxx

When he heard Kardia arriving – as loudly as he could, as he had been on the previous days – Degel considered not going, maybe sending one of the assistants instead. He was tired, full of duties inside and outside the kitchens and a there were clients who were just not able to appreciate French food. Not to mention that not one single soul showed up for being interviewed. Either there were no students interested in working in French restaurants or his reputation of being perfectionist had reached the younger portion of the chef community. In short, he was not in the mood to deal with Kardia that day.

However, as the truck's horn sounded again, the image of the Greek's smirk came to his mind. It was the smirk of the day they met, the one that made his insides jump and turn and flip like they were gymnasts. The weight of his body still lingered in his hands from when he carried Kardia through the street and he remembered how on that same night how he had wondered what it would feel like to bare that weight from a different angle.

Before he realized, Degel was opening the back door to let the infuriating man in.

All the rudeness aside, Kardia was a gorgeous sight for sore eyes. His body perfect and powerful, his hair untamed and lustrous, his face held a mixture of malice and arrogance that fit all too well in lustful dreams – not that Degel would ever admit having those, of course. Nobody would believe that he was a sick man, due to have dangerous crisis at any given moment.

"Hello, Ice Cube." Kardia said when he saw him going down the steps, clearly proud of his newest nickname. Yesterday had been Frozen Heart and on the day before had been Popsicle Chef.

Degel controlled the urge to roll his eyes. Was it too much to ask that he could see the Kardia from the first time they met? The one that had both smirked at him and been reasonable at the same time? For a moment he just stood there, watching the handsome man, expecting something that he could not quite identify what. He was probably just going crazy with all the stress and difficult week. "Just go inside and do your work. Stop by my office when you're done."

It was not like he had the time to be sitting idly in his office, but from the kitchen it would be all too easy for him to watch the Greek work. Better be useless alone than in front of his employees, then.

xxxx

There was no knock on the door, obviously. Knocking was for humans, beasts like Kardia simply barged in speaking loudly.

"All done, Ice Cube, everything on its proper place. Fruits shining and your waitress blushing redder than an apple."

Degel was not sure what bothered him the most: the nickname, the barging in or the comment on the waitress. So he was interested in Marin, then? Yes, that was probably what bothered him the most, although he was not sure why. Something clicked inside him and his chest filled with a fury he did not know he had. Even though Degel knew better than to exchange banter with the brute, this time he found himself unable to ignore him.

"If you're so interested in my waitress I suggest you do it so with your mouth shut and without offending my girls. I will not tolerate obscene behavior in my restaurant." He said with the coldest voice he could muster, a freezing glare added for good measure.

"Offending?" Kardia laughed obnoxiously, his eyes full of malice "I don't think she was offended. Relax, Ice Cube. I didn't do anything. Not my fault that the redhead likes to watch my muscles when I'm working."

"Why is it that you can't use my name? What? Its not even that difficult to pronounce." He changed tactics, suddenly uncomfortable at the thought of Kardia's muscles working. Even more uncomfortable at the thought of Marin watching said muscles. He'd have a conversation with her later.

"Nah, I just like the sound of Ice Cube better." He said with the most arrogant grin ever.

Degel just snorted and closed his eyes, leaning in his chair. "Just take your money and go, Kardia."

"Oh, come on. Using me and throwing me away? That is not very polite of you, Monsieur Ice Cube."

To that Degel had to give a dry chuckle. "I don't think you are one to point fingers on politeness, brute."

"Who is ignoring names now?" Kardia asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm "I… I knew you had it in you..to.. hn."

Noticing the change in Kardia's voice, Degel opened one of his eyes. He saw the Greek with one hand on the wall, trying to support himself.

"Kardia!"

He was by the Greek's side in a second, pulling him to sit on the chair.

"No… no, I'm fine."

Sighing impatiently, Degel pulled with more force and effectively managed to drag him to one of the chairs.

"Wait here, I'll be right back."

As fast as he could, Degel almost flew to the kitchen and grabbed his special juice on the fridge. Kardia had not passed out yet, so he probably had time to set up something solid as well. Ignoring the curious eyes and the questions from his employees, he took some of the dissert cakes that had not been iced yet but still had a good load of sugar.

When he came back Kardia was still on the chair, waving his head slightly, as if trying to focus on something.

"Here, drink and eat this." He placed the juice close to his face, pressing it against his mouth. There was some protest at first, but in the end Kardia accepted it.

After that it went smoothly, he even took the cakes without complaints. So they remained in silence for a while, sitting one across the other. Kardia munching softly and Degel musing at the sudden change of events.

"Did you eat anything before coming here?" he asked quietly. When Kardia waved his head no, Degel couldn't avoid the intake of air. Why did he have to be so reckless? He was perfectly aware of his condition "I'll come and get something to eat."

Before he could fully stand, though, a tanned hand held him in place.

"Stay here for a while." It was almost a whisper, but Degel heard anyway, and discovered it was impossible to move under the rough touch of that calloused hand. Also discovered it was very hard to deny a request from him.

"You have to eat properly." He managed to say evenly despite the fact that his brain seemed to focus all of his attention on the point of his skin that was being touched. Sure, he had touched Kardia before, but Kardia never had touched him.

"This is a restaurant, Degel, we are surrounded by food. And you were fast. I'll be fine." The Greek said after a sip of the juice, a small grin on his face, voice still low. "You're without your glasses."

"What? Oh, yes… I… I don't need them all the time." Taken aback by the sudden comment, Degel became loss between the many urges that were crawling inside him. The urge of touching him back, the urge of bringing him food to assure he was fine, the urge of getting back to reason and be practical about the whole situation.

"You look good without your glasses. You look good with them on too, but this way I can see your eyes."

Now that was unexpected. Strangely flattering, as well. At the same time that it calmed his urges it made his stomach jump a little bit.

"Saying something nice about me? You must be really light headed right now." Degel offered him a small smirk.

Kardia chuckled softly "You're making jokes. I must have really scared you now, huh?"

"In truth, I don't know if I am more scared of your crisis or of your stubbornness." He said, smirk still in place. Considering himself firm enough to stand, Degel rose from his seat "Wait here while I bring you some proper food to eat. I am not taking no for an answer."

Part of him wanted to go full on chef mode. Part of him wanted to see the appreciative glint in Kardia's eyes again, like the one he'd seen the time he had to carry the Greek to his restaurant. If he had the time, it was probable that he would have indulged to such wishes, but he didn't think it would take long for Kardia to recover and he really didn't want to miss the rare opportunity of talking to him. Properly talking to him, that is.

Yes, Degel wanted to talk with Kardia, wanted to have a real conversation. Banter exchange and double-meaning comment could be interesting on occasion when not completely annoying. And of course, the Greek didn't seem to be the type for too much words, but with the right approach he believed he could extract something from the man. Why exactly he wanted that was beyond his comprehension, yet he let himself to be led for the moment. If anything, Degel was a curious person and Kardia had captured his curiosity.

With that being accepted in his mind, he settled for serving some of Isaak's beefs. The Greek seemed to be one to enjoy carnivorous pleasures. Degel tried to ignore the blush that came to his cheeks as he considered such notions about what would or would not pleasure the brute.

"I was beginning to think you had run away." Kardia said as soon as he came back to the office with the meal.

"How did you know I was back?" Degel asked, looking curious at Kardia, who had laid his head on the table with his back to the entrance.

"You are silent enough, I'll give you that. But the meat aroma gave you away. And somehow I didn't think you would send the redhead to serve me." He answered from beneath his wild hair.

"Hn, you must be getting better." Degel said, unable to hold the exasperate sigh, but relaxed a bit when he heard Kardia chuckling "Here, eat this."

"That… that smells really good. Did you make it yourself?" Kardia asked when he raised his head to see what was being offered to him.

"There was no time. This is something from the kitchen assistant."

The next few minutes were filled with silence but for the sounds of Kardia eating his food. After a while of quiet observation, though, Degel decided to ask some questions before the peaceful moment evaporated away.

"At the risk of getting you all closed up and cranky, I have to ask you. Why do you insist on walking around alone when you know you can have crisis?"

He watched carefully as Kardia swallowed the rest of his meat and drank the rest of his juice. While the question seemed to annoy him, he seemed to be really considering an answer. It was only after a few more minutes of silence – of Degel looking straight at Kardia and Kardia looking everywhere but Degel – the Greek seemed to finally relent.

"What choice do I have?" he said at last, looking to his empty plate "There is too much work to be done and the family can't afford to have a useless son around."

"Do your parents know about your disease?"

"Of course they do."

"And the let you do this to yourself?" Probably he shouldn't let his incredulity and reproval so obvious in his voice, but it came out before he could control it. Apparently Kardia had that effect on him.

"Don't put my parents into this! I make my own choices and they are not to blame!"

The sudden outburst made Degel jump in surprise, but he quickly recovered and raised both his hands in sign of peace. "All right, I'm sorry. I am merely trying to understand why you are doing this to yourself."

"Well, as I said, I have no choice. Mouths must be fed and Mama and Papa will soon get to an age when they can't push themselves too hard." Kardia said back, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring towards the doorway.

"Somehow I don't think that you fainting around alone at the risk of not getting help will be of great use to your family." Degel scowled at him, annoyed that the man had to be so stubborn and reckless of his own life.

"Don't tell me how to be useful to my family!" Kardia turned the glare towards him, this time "It's not like you would know what is like to have a difficult life, so don't presume to know what is best for my family or not."

Well, now Kardia had done it. He had successfully angered Degel. Returning a freezing glare back, he answered with a slow chilling voice.

"Don't _you_ presume to know about my life, Kardia. Each one must go through his own hardships in life and I can assure you I have gone through a lot. So you mind your words the next time you decide to make stupid assumptions about me." Aware of the small rise in the tone of his voice, Degel took a deep breath and closed his eyes. How could that man elicit so different responses in him in less than an hour? He didn't like this, not being in control.

The silence was deafening now. Even with his eyes closed he could picture the flames in Kardia's eyes. The Greek was mad, yes, but there was something else there as well, something he couldn't place but made him shiver. Perhaps it was better if he left. He had many things to do, he shouldn't be wasting his time arguing uselessly with the brute in his office.

There was a long, tired sigh coming from the other man. Then came the words that surprised him.

"I'm… I'm sorry. I guess I really am stupid." The brute said with defeat in his voice.

That effectively made Degel open his eyes, but Kardia was already standing, moving to retrieve his money on the table. His wild mane of hair made it impossible to see his face, so there was no way of telling what was going through his mind.

Neither of them spoke anything else, clearly words were not the safest path between them at the moment. Still, Degel watched closely as Kardia walked to the door and stopped, looking sideways at him. They were both frowning at each other, the tension heavy in the exchange, but… but Degel _saw_. Right in the middle of all the turmoil in the Greek's eyes, he saw the flame, the potential. Briefly he wondered what Kardia would see in his own eyes, even though he was too focused on the heat coming from the other man. Degel had seen a glimpse of it before, when they met, and it was not completely revealed yet, he could tell that there were many things the brute was trying to hide from him.

When Kardia suddenly turned and left his office, a cold shiver ran through his body. Why did he want to go after him? Did Degel want to be in the flames' path again? Not only be in their path, but be engulfed by it. _Do I want to melt?_

Moving to the window of his office, he watched from behind the curtains the way Kardia leaned his head on the truck. Worry shot through him, but something told him this time it was better to respect the other's space, be him ill or not. Most likely he was not, Degel had made sure to put a lot of sugar in his system. Was it possible, then, that their disagreement had affected him that much? Should I be feeling this elated with the possibility of affecting him?

Feeling strangely scared at the possibility, Degel turned from the window. He had wanted to see the Kardia that he had met, that had offered him the best apples in the city. Was that the real Kardia, though? The one he was seeing now? He simply had no idea. Also, why the hell was he so affected by that man? Supposedly Degel had made himself immune to that kind of feeling long ago, after too much pain.

His eyes fell upon her portrait. He sighed, too tired to disguise his doubts in front of his old dead love.

"What is this that I am seeing, Seraphina?"

**Xxx**

**A little bit of Degel for you. =) Next chapter is from his point of view as well.**

**Also, thank you MMBC for the note on Kardia's disease. I really was in doubt about what it was exactly, but in my hurry to publish I ended up forgetting to check it. Later, when I have more free time, I am hoping to correct a few mistakes like this in these first chapters.**

**Thank you all for the lovely reviews, I hope this fic can correspond to your expectations!**

**See you soon, I think =)**


	4. Degel Fears

**Yay! I managed to update sooner than I thought, considering how busy I am. This chapter is once again of Degel's point of view.**

**They are almost there, I think XD.**

**A grammar note: I know I still don't write some things in English the proper way, and in this chapter I have struggled a bit with the past tense verbs, so please forgive if there are some confusing parts.**

**Please, enjoy.**

**xxx**

Usually, people would describe Degel as a cold, unattached person. Mostly, they were right. But then again, mostly people had come to know him _after_ the accident. Of course, he had never been warmness in person; he just used to smile more often. He was softer, in Unity's words.

Unity had known him most of his life, so probably he knew what he was talking about where Degel was concerned. They were nearly family; they almost had been by law. Brothers-in-law, brothers in every sense but of blood. What did blood matter, anyway? He never had any experience with blood relatives, everything Degel knew about family he had learned from Unity and Seraphina. Not only about family, about feelings in general.

_All in the past._

Then why was he remembering it all, now? It had happened so long ago. Or at least it seemed like. Degel had learned quickly that not keep tracking of time was good to forget the pain.

Wine too was good for that, he pondered as he poured himself a glass. Not that he had ever even bordered alcoholism, but Degel was very fond of the habit of drinking wine. It used to be a glass a night, when he was younger and with lesser responsibilities. These days he kept it to a glass week, usually by Sunday night, to help him meditate on the week that had gone by.

Today was not Sunday, nevertheless he felt entitled to a cabernet sauvignon after arguing with Kardia, again.

"This is very strange. I never felt this necessity when I argued with you." He whispered, looking to a smiling Seraphina in the portrait above the mantel piece "Granted, we never yelled at each other."

Degel was still not sure if they had really yelled at each other or if the words simply had sounded too loud in his ears. Hell, he still was not sure the real reason they had argued this time. He'd like to say it was all Kardia's fault, but in truth Unity had a great deal of guilt in this specific matter.

They had started out being nice to each other, for a change of pace. Maybe their little exchange after Kardia's second crisis two days ago had really left an effect on both of them, maybe it was just that the moon was in the right position to keep their antagonizing for each other at bay. Fact was that on the following day, after a long session of infernal horning, the brute had actually said 'good afternoon, Ice Cube'. The nickname was still there, granted, but the smirk had returned to its first mysterious state. Degel had answered 'Good afternoon, brute.' And everything was fine. When came the time for Kardia to collect the money, Degel offered him a glass of his special juice (no more blushing waitresses, mind you) and the Greek drank it all in front of him – all the time staring him in the eyes, with a provocative glow installed there. The flames were hidden again, but it had been warm enough that Degel had to turn away to hide the blush that crept to his cheeks.

Dealing with Kardia, though, was like riding in a holler coaster.

Then, this afternoon, not only had he arrived late, but also he had been in a bad mood. He horned only once and as soon as Degel opened the door he came in already carrying a box, muttering excuses for being late. Apparently, there had been a small problem in the market. Sensing it was better to let the Greek be for a while, he kept his questions to himself. There was no use in making Kardia's mood worse, especially after the peaceful previous day.

So, Degel spent his fifteen minutes in the kitchen, preparing something cold for him. It had been a hot day and he could see that the other was sweating from all the heavy work. (Now, with his glass of wine, reflecting upon the whole situation, he mused why he had gone through such trouble. He barely knew Kardia for two weeks! Sure, the sweating muscles had been oddly compelling, but… it was not normal for Degel to be this concerned for someone who he had met only few days ago.) Either way, he had taken the opportunity that it was not a very busy day at the restaurant and transformed his special juice into something halfway between a vitamin and an ice cream.

Again, not wanting to count on Marin to serve him, Degel had decided to take it to Kardia himself. Truly he didn't want the girl drooling all over the Greek, the thought that the brute might enjoy her attention bothered him. At the time he internally agreed that it was not better to dwell on such things, not when the sexy man was in his pantry, all alone, taking a small break.

'Brought you something.' He had said, and Kardia had smirked weakly at him, accepting the glass without uttering a word, thanking him with a simple nod.

As on the day before, Degel waited, this time trying to focus on the wild blue hair to avoid the blush that would come if he ventured a look at the other's lips. It was in that moment that he noticed the blood on Kardia's temple.

'You're wounded!' he had exclaimed, moving his hand to carefully touch the wound without realizing what he was doing 'What happened?'

Kardia had jumped at the sudden contact, clearly not expecting it. After a few coughs, he answered while looking at Degel's hand still on his temple from the corner of his eyes. 'There was a fight in the market…'

Degel had simply looked at him, wanting a better explanation, and after a sigh the Greek elaborated better. 'A friend of mine… who works with me, he has a boyfriend. This boyfriend, whose brother owns the flower shop on the left, by the way, stopped by our stand today. Well, a jerk in the market offended their homosexual relationship and things got ugly.'

'That's terrible. I can't believe there are still medieval people living among us.' He had answered, distractedly pulling his apron to clean the blood away. The action seemed to surprise Kardia even more, who took a few steps back and broke the contact.

'It's fine. Aphrodite looked briefly at it before I came running to make the delivery.'

'Aphrodite?' he had inquired, curious at the name and at the appearance of someone who cared enough for the brute to see his wounds, even if for just a moment.

'My friend's boyfriend. He is a nurse. He wanted to water the wound, do the whole deal, but I was already late so I didn't let him.'

'There was no need for that. We have to clean that before it gets infected.'

One more time, taking another sip of his wine, Degel wondered why he cared. Without even waiting for a response and making clear he would not get a negative answer, he had practically dragged Kardia to his private bathroom and proceeded to clean his wound properly.

'Running here without treating the wound first… what nonsense!' he remembered muttering, to what Kardia had smirked and said 'Sorry, mother.'

They had remained quiet during most of Degel's ministrations. Perhaps both had been awkward at the close proximity and at the clear display of… of… well, of giving a damn, if Degel decided to adhere to the brute's vocabulary.

There had been a moment, though, that had made him shiver. He was shivering still, if Degel was decided to be honest. Sometime between the wound cleaning and the hell that broke loose, Kardia had picked his forgotten apron upon the sink and looked at it with something close to reverence in his eyes, there was no mistaking.

'You didn't have to… Now your kitchen clothes are soiled.' The brute had said, clearly avoiding his eyes 'I'm sorry.'

'Don't worry about it. These can be washed anytime.' He remembered himself saying before looking at him from the corner of his eyes 'I think it was very brave of you, defending your friends. Especially in such matter.'

'You don't mind homosexuals, then?' Kardia asked him, this time looking openly at him. Quite intensely, too.

'Why would I? People can love who they will, regardless of the physical body. Also, there is physical beauty in both sexes, why should it be wrong to admire both?'

Kardia had only nodded but they kept staring at each other. The distance between their bodies had not been big, to begin with, yet somehow Degel found himself drifting even closer to the man, half aware that the wound was already clean and treated. His touch on the other's temple had become more of a caress, by then.

'Thank you for taking care of me.' Kardia had whispered, his hand traveling to remove some of Degel's bangs out of his eyes. The Greek chuckled lightly 'Glasses again.'

He had not known what to say in return. Taking care of Kardia had been so… natural, an urge that was impossible to resist. Perhaps, treating Kardia was an expression of his own selfish need of touching that handsome man. That was something that Degel had yet to find out, but his glass of wine had not provided any answers yet.

'Why do you do this?'

'What?'

'Taking care of me? I haven't been exactly a sweet guy.'

'Well… I guess that is a mystery we have yet to solve.' Degel smirked at him, his face inching just a bit closer 'Why do you enjoy hitting on my nerves?'

Kardia had smirked back, his face inching closer as well 'Hn. I guess we _are_ full of mysteries.'

They would have kissed, that was for sure. Degel simply was not certain who would have started it, and if that was merely his desire speaking or if Kardia had wanted it as well. They had continued staring at each other, their faces approaching even more. There had been some reluctance, too, otherwise they would have simply launched at each other's lips. There had been uncertainty in Kardia's eyes, and that had held Degel back.

Because if even the mighty man that was Kardia wasn't sure if he wanted to go further with their strange antagonistic – agonistic, even – relationship, if it could be called that way, what could he hope to do? He, whose heart and sentiment had been buried deep beneath grieve for so long. Even that physical attraction was foreign to him. Seraphina had been the only person he had known intimately. All of that had gone through his mind in the few seconds in which their faces were gravitating close to each but never really touching.

He had felt the warm breath of the other on his face, brushing against his skin, tempting his senses. He had wanted to kiss Kardia, why didn't he? Would it have been so catastrophic to give in to his desires? Once again, the glass of wine was mute.

Then Unity arrived. _Oh, Unity, why?_

They had been in his office's bathroom, stuck in that position, when they heard the man's voice coming into the office, looking for him. Kardia had immediately rolled his eyes, and even Degel had sighed at the interruption.

'I thought you polite people knocked the door before going in.' Kardia had growled lowly close to his ear, making Degel snort lightly.

'I think we'll have to solve our mysteries later, then.' He had whispered before releasing him and leaving to greet his friend.

'I will hold you to that, Ice Cube.' Was the last thing he heard before going out.

Unity smiled as soon as he came out of the bathroom. Whatever the pale haired man was about to say, though, was instantly forgotten when Kardia came out of the bathroom behind him.

'What is this man doing here?'

The question had killed the greeting smile in Degel's face. Kardia beat him to answer, though.

'I do business here.' The Greek growled back.

'In his bathroom? Together?' Unity looked skeptically and angry at them 'The pantry is the other door.'

'Kardia had a wound, so I was treating it in the bathroom.'

Unity had sighed and moved to the bottle of liquor that he kept in his office for guests, pouring a glass. 'You should not waste your time with him. Any of the waitresses could have dealt with this.'

'And you should not tell me how I use my time, Unity.' That had been the coldest voice he had used with his childhood friend, which took both of them by surprise.

Unity had a stunned expression on his face.

'Degel, I… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to order you around. I just think that you shouldn't let your pity rule your day when this man is present.'

He had been about to answer when once again Kardia beat him to it.

'Degel doesn't pity me!' came the angry outburst from behind him.

'Of course he does, he told me so.'

'Unity!' Degel had exclaimed the same time as Kardia had shouted 'What?!'

Then all of a sudden the Greek's angry glare was directed at him.

'I never said that!'

It had taken only a few seconds, but Degel had seen in that moment the doubt and something close to fear crossing Kardia's eyes before he was overtaken by anger.

'I should have known that with you, rich people, is always like this. You find something broken and then you take pity on it and take care of it so you can sleep believing you're doing something for society!'

'So, we're back to you making stupid assumptions about me?'

'I've just seen it in your eyes!'

'You know nothing if this is what you think you saw in my eyes, brute.'

'I think you have already made it clear what you think of my intelligence.'

The growl in Kardia's voice could have been something frightening to someone less cold than Degel, which also could be true in the inverse position. Not everyone could sustain Degel's chilling glares and cold voice.

'I DON'T need your pity, Ice Cube! If all you do is for pity its better if you do nothing at all! You might as well leave me to die the next time I have a crisis!'

Degel's answer had been a slap on his face. It had been so strong it made his previous wound bleed again.

'If all you can do is yelling these absurdities you might as well leave. Now.'

In truth, Degel saw nothing else after he had slapped Kardia. He had been vaguely aware of the Greek leaving without saying a word and of himself sending Unity away with a few more cold words. There had been no kitchen for him after that. The argument had rendered Degel useless for the day.

At first, Degel put it to the fact that the brute had this unique talent of angering him to the bone. But the wine had done better to his self-analysis. Degel had been afraid. Not of Kardia and his wild growls – Degel feared no beast.

The idea of leaving Kardia to die, however, had struck something inside him that reverberated through his soul. The thought of Kardia's existence ceasing to be… it frightened him deeply. All the times he'd seen the Greek in crisis or hurt he had felt it, just not consciously. There was a part of him that worried about the brute, despite the short term of them knowing each other.

"Then we come to the big question. Why do I worry so much about him?" he muttered to Seraphina's portrait.

_Am I falling in love?_ Degel recoiled at the thought.

That was the one thing he could not say out loud. That frightened him almost as much as his newfound fear of Kardia's death. For one, Degel had loved once and lost – he was not sure if he could bear to love and lose again. Kardia's disease was not exactly fatal if the person took the necessary precautions, but the brute had already proved that he did not take these precautions. And two, what were the chances of his feelings being returned?

Kardia was provocative and exhaled sexiness, surely there were people pining for him in every corner. A chef who had slapped him would not be high in his list of options. Degel was not even sure if he would ever see Kardia again tomorrow.

That too was a bit scary. He needed to apologize as well as making him believe that Degel's actions were not driven by pity.

Bloody Unit! Why had he lied? Degel had never said such thing! He didn't even talk about Kardia with people – it was too much of a private matter.

He knew that the two men didn't like each other. He also knew that Unity had pleasure in annoying Kardia, as his friend often had peculiar behavior at times. Today's display however was totally uncalled for not to mention cruel. Degel wanted an explanation, and he would get one, but for the moment it was better to stay away or he might do something he regretted. Unity was one of the oldest memories he had, his childhood was spent almost entirely with either Unity or Seraphina by his side. Of course, he was aware that there was a certain possessiveness from his friend's part. That had never been an issue since Degel's only girlfriend had been Unity's sister, but now he would have to make things clear. Certainly they could talk about today's instance without exceedingly harsh words.

_Another day, though._

For the moment, Degel's mind could only revolve around on Kardia and their encounter on the following day.

xxxx

Kardia did show up on the following day, and on the next and on the next and on the next. It was never the same, though. The exchange of nicknames and rude comments were still there, but the smirks and snorts didn't reach his eyes.

It was rare to even see the Greek's eyes, actually, and when Degel had the opportunity he couldn't find anything. Kardia's eyes were always guarded and the flames were hidden away from him.

He had never thought possible to become colder and more distant from people, yet that was Degel's immediate reaction to the brute's behavior. As soon as he realized that the thing that flowed between them had been severed from Kardia's part, he made a point of raising his cold shell again. Marin had returned to serving him water and most of the times he was accompanied by a friend – for a whole month the two of them hadn't been alone in a room, not that he was counting.

The distancing process, however, expanded through other aspects of his life. His already professional relationship with his employees became more restricted to the cooking hours and Dohko and Shion apart, who worked for a good customer, he barely kept in touch with some other friends from his teenage years. Even Unity was let out.

In name of their long friendship years, Degel had tried to set things straight between them. The first offense uttered towards Kardia, however, had put a stone to his efforts. It was two weeks since he had last seen or heard of Unity.

It was ironic, even, that Kardia – beastly fire and heat – had brought even more cold to Degel's life. Did the brute even care? He probably didn't even know, he barely looked at him in the eyes. No words were exchanged but the nicknames and occasional scorn. Part of him tried to believe that this was a good thing. There was no use in loosing himself in drama and unpredictable feelings when there was so much work to be done.

The restaurant was doing great and with one chef less than the ideal for his kitchen, he had to be main chef and administrator at the same time. The Kido and Solo families were good customers and apparently recommended him to everyone they knew, which was good for business, of course, but Degel needed another main chef. Sisyphus was good enough, yet he didn't have the ingredients to be an excellent main chef and the others were too young.

All of this, plus the day-by-day chores, Degel embraced gladly, for it distracted him from the dull ache in the back of his mind.

Fate, nonetheless, if it existed, seemed to be in disposition to put ice and fire in the same room together. Once again, Kardia had a crisis in his restaurant. This time, however, he was not present and he was sure that if it depended on the Greek he would not have been called.

He was in the kitchen, finishing a few cupcakes when he heard shattering glass. Soon there were hurried steps coming and at the moment he raised his head Marin rushed in.

"M. Degel, hurry! One of the men is having a crisis of sort!"

One single statement was enough to crack his comfortable shell. Kardia was ill again. The fear – that heart-wrenching fear – returned full force, shattering the barrier he had been carefully raising around himself.

Swiftly, yet in some sort of apathy, Degel grabbed his special juice in the fridge and went to the Greek. Marin went along shortly on his heels on the way to the pantry, where he saw the object of his disturbance sitting on the floor with another man kneeling by his side.

When Kardia saw him – _Still conscious, good_ – he swore under his breath and made a feeble attempt to punch his friend in the chest. Of course the brute wouldn't want him around to help. That's when the anger came, hand in hand with the fear now.

"You are very wrong if you think I would ever leave you to die, you ignorant brute!"

Degel never thought he could be so forceful, but apparently that was another aspect that Kardia brought up in him. Ignoring completely the other people in the pantry, he kneeled by his side and grabbed his face. Forcing Kardia to open his mouth, he practically threw the juice in until half the jar was empty.

After that Kardia found some strength and pushed him away, knocking Degel to sit on the floor as well. The two of them remained like that for a moment, the Greek coughing and he panting a little.

"I told them not to call you."

"They called, I came, now I am going back." Degel said, proceeding to stand "I am one chef less than I need. Contrary to your beliefs, I don't waste my time pitying you and running to your needs. However, if the thought of me helping you is so disgusting, I suggest you start taking care of your health instead of walking around with absolutely no nutrient in your system, as I am sure you are now."

On his way out, he stopped in front of a stunned Marin and gave a few orders.

"You, young lady, will serve both of these men a meal and then you will clean this mess of glass on the floor."

"Right away, M. Degel."

Degel didn't return to the kitchen, he couldn't. His hand had been steady as iron, but his gut was trembling. Even though it had been a harsh moment, he had _touched_ Kardia's face. It had been a month since the incident in the bathroom and his fingertips were numb with the memory of the tanned skin under his fingers. And the eyes! He had seen _it_ in his eyes again.

In his office he took big gulps of water. That was just perfect, when he was finally managing to put it all under the carpet that fire demon had to show him a glimpse of the flames again.

Why? _Why, why, why, why?!_ Why did his world have to be turned upside down by that brute?

**xxx**

**I know, the crisis routine must be making you all tired. But from now on, there is material for other things to happen between them. And sooner or later Degel will have to confront Unity. Besides, on the next chapter we'll have Camus job interview!**

**Thank you all for the reviews! Don't worry, I will finish this story, you just need to be patient with me. Thank you for reading.**

**seafox**


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